fix: replace logging with proper UI output for user-facing messages

[osterman]

what

• Replace inappropriate use of log.Info() with proper error display and UI output for messages that users must see regardless of logging configuration
• Fix custom command error messages to properly display available subcommands
• Convert validation success/failure messages to UI output instead of logs

why

• When users run invalid subcommands (like atmos dev pr-check), the available subcommands were displayed using log.Info(), which means users get no feedback when logging is disabled
• Validation messages and other user-facing feedback should always be visible, not dependent on log level settings
• This violates the principle documented in our logging guidelines that UI output (user interaction) and logging (debugging/telemetry) should be separate

Key Changes

Correctly Changed to UI Output

• Custom command errors (cmd/cmd_utils.go): Shows available subcommands using proper error formatting
• Validation results (internal/exec/validate_schema.go): Success/failure messages that users need to see
• Component validation (cmd/validate_component.go, internal/exec/atmos.go): Success confirmation messages

Correctly Kept as Logging

• "Executing command" messages: These are debug/informational and should remain as log entries

Testing

• Added TestUIOutputNotUsingLogging to verify UI messages work with logging disabled
• Added TestCustomCommandInvalidSubcommand for custom command error display
• All tests pass with proper stderr output regardless of log level
• Verified error messages display correctly even with ATMOS_LOGS_LEVEL=Off

references

• Follows logging guidelines in docs/logging.md
• closes #1495

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features
  • Clearer CLI guidance when a command requires a subcommand: in-line message with valid options and a hint to use --help.
• Refactor
  • Switched validation and UI feedback from logging to user-facing TUI messages, including success checkmarks and structured error lines.
  • Standardized error output to stderr and reduced logging noise in user messages; no ANSI colors when logging is disabled.
• Tests
  • Added CLI tests ensuring subcommand guidance, TUI-based validation messages, stderr output, and absence of logging artifacts.

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between bd15f9795bf5aae36156050dfc37a757d971a7a5 and 973e28fac7554fbd24034cc1aee2294218499394.

📒 Files selected for processing (7)

• cmd/cmd_utils_test.go (1 hunks)
• cmd/validate_component.go (2 hunks)
• cmd/validate_component_test.go (1 hunks)
• internal/exec/atmos.go (3 hunks)
• internal/exec/atmos_test.go (1 hunks)
• internal/exec/validate_schema.go (2 hunks)
• internal/exec/validate_schema_test.go (1 hunks)

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Updates CLI output handling: when a command requires a subcommand, emit a structured “subcommand required” error with usage hint; switch several validation messages from logging to TUI printing; add a new exported error for missing subcommands; add tests verifying stderr-based UI output and absence of log prefixes.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary of Changes
CLI subcommand requirement handling cmd/cmd_utils.go	Reworked subcommand-required branch to build an inline error describing required subcommand, valid options, and a help hint; now returns via errUtils.CheckErrorPrintAndExit; preserves invalid-command path with augmented messaging.
TUI output for validation (cmd layer) cmd/validate_component.go	Replaced log.Info success message with u.PrintfMessageToTUI; removed log import, added utils import alias u.
TUI output for validation (exec layer) internal/exec/atmos.go, internal/exec/validate_schema.go	Switched progress/success/error outputs from logging to u.PrintfMessageToTUI; adjusted formatting for per-file and per-error lines; control flow unchanged.
New error for subcommand requirement errors/errors.go	Added exported ErrSubcommandRequired = errors.New("subcommand required").
CLI/UI behavior tests tests/cli_custom_command_test.go, tests/cli_ui_output_test.go	Added tests asserting stderr-only UI output, proper subcommand guidance, absence of log-level prefixes and ANSI color codes when logging is off; verify exit code for invalid subcommand.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  autonumber
  participant U as User
  participant CLI as atmos CLI
  participant CMD as Command Router
  participant ERR as errUtils
  Note over U,CLI: Invoke command that has subcommands but none provided
  U->>CLI: atmos foo
  CLI->>CMD: Parse command path
  CMD->>CMD: Detect missing subcommand
  CMD-->>CLI: Build error with valid subcommands + help hint
  CLI->>ERR: CheckErrorPrintAndExit(error)
  ERR-->>U: Print error to stderr and exit(1)

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20–30 minutes

Suggested labels

patch

Suggested reviewers

• aknysh

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Linked Issues Check	⚠️ Warning	Linked issue #1495 requires XDG cache compliance (ensure $XDG_CACHE_HOME falls back to $HOME/.cache and prevent creating .atmos in unintended locations), but this PR focuses on replacing log.Info with UI output, improving subcommand error messaging, and adding CLI UI tests; there are no changes to cache handling (pkg/config/cache.go) or tests exercising XDG behavior. Because the PR does not modify the cache fallback logic or add verification for XDG behavior, it does not satisfy the objectives of issue #1495.	Either remove the link/closing of issue #1495 and treat this as a UI/logging-only fix, or extend the branch to include the XDG cache fallback implementation and tests that verify $XDG_CACHE_HOME falls back to $HOME/.cache; update the PR description accordingly.
Out of Scope Changes Check	⚠️ Warning	The changeset primarily updates user-facing messaging and tests (cmd/cmd_utils.go, cmd/validate_component.go, internal/exec/*, errors/errors.go, and new tests) which are unrelated to the XDG/cache objectives of the linked issue; no config or cache-related files were modified. Because the PR claims to close an issue about XDG cache behavior while introducing unrelated UI/logging changes, it contains out-of-scope modifications relative to that linked issue.	Recommend splitting concerns: keep UI/logging changes in this PR and remove the XDG issue linkage, or add the required XDG cache fixes and tests in the same branch; ask the author to update the PR description and branch to reflect the chosen approach.

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title Check	✅ Passed	The title succinctly and accurately describes the primary change: replacing logging with proper UI output for user-facing messages; this maps directly to edits in command handling and validation output (cmd/* and internal/exec/*) and the added UI-focused tests. It is concise, specific, and helpful for a teammate scanning PR history.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.

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[codecov[bot]]

Codecov Report

:x: Patch coverage is 46.15385% with 7 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review. :white_check_mark: Project coverage is 56.98%. Comparing base (6274d75) to head (973e28f). :warning: Report is 239 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
cmd/cmd_utils.go	0.00%	3 Missing :warning:
cmd/validate_component.go	0.00%	2 Missing :warning:
internal/exec/atmos.go	0.00%	2 Missing :warning:

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #1502      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   56.72%   56.98%   +0.26%     
==========================================
  Files         280      284       +4     
  Lines       29708    30290     +582     
==========================================
+ Hits        16851    17261     +410     
- Misses      11045    11201     +156     
- Partials     1812     1828      +16     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	56.98% <46.15%> (+0.26%)	:arrow_up:

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[mergify[bot]]

💥 This pull request now has conflicts. Could you fix it @osterman? 🙏

[mergify[bot]]

💥 This pull request now has conflicts. Could you fix it @osterman? 🙏